


Lucia

by SherlockMalfoy



Series: Sherlock!Wizardverse Drabbles - Drarry [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Concerned Harry, Emotional Trauma, Gen, Grief, Loss, Worried Draco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 18:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5712187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockMalfoy/pseuds/SherlockMalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry returns home from a day out to learn from the head house elf that not all is right in the Potter-Malfoy home. Their daughter Lily thinks she's made her father upset with her somehow. And Lucia is very sorry she made them worry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucia

Draco and Harry knew their children were special. Not because of the circumstances in which they had been created and then born. And only partially because as parents, they were biased. No. Mainly they knew their children were going to be special for a few very important reasons.

One, all three children were the product of the two most powerful wizards in Europe, perhaps even the world. Which meant their own magical ability would be unpredictable and possibly much greater their own parents.

Second, all three children were exceptionally bright. More so than the average child. By age 4, their eldest could already speak perfect Latin, Italian, and French. Though his English still needed a little polishing. At age 5, their middle child had already begun to bury himself in the library and had memorized no less than fifty-seven books on magical theory and spell creation. And their youngest, at age 3, had already flown a broom by herself after using wandless magic to break into the storage room near the family Quidditch pitch. Though both men were very proud of their daughter, they were also very frightened for her safety.

But it wasn’t until their second son had finally begun attending Hogwarts that they realized just how frighteningly special their youngest really was.

Harry had been out for most of the day. Running errands (despite Draco’s insistence that the house elves and owls could easily have been put to good use) and catching up with old friends. He’d returned just before dinner to a very quiet manor. This was not unusual as the boys were in school, leaving only Harry, his husband, and their daughter. But as he unlatched his cloak, he frowned. Something didn’t feel quite… right.

“Vitus!” he called as he hung his cloak on a hook beside the fireplace of the floo parlour. “Vitus!”

The head house elf, Harry’s favourite and in his opinion the most sane among the small manor staff, popped into the room and bowed low. “Apologies Master Harry, that Vitus did not come when first called,” the black clad elf said as he rose up and put his terrycloth hat back atop his head. “But Vitus was worried for Master Draco, sir.”

Harry frowned then, looking down at the elf. “Worried? Why?”

“Yes sir,” the elf began. “After Master Harry left the Manor, Master Draco went to check on little Miss. And Master Draco caught a fright.”

Harry’s heart beat faster. “Where is my daughter?”

“Her rooms. But-” but before he could finish, Harry had rushed from the spot. The house elf quickly followed, or rather as quickly as it could manage. Soon Harry had barged into the little girl’s play room. The child had been sitting quietly in the bay window with a book open in her lap. At the sound of Harry’s arrival, followed immediately by the house elf, she looked up. Then quickly back down again.

Harry, relieved to see his daughter safe and sound, moved to sit beside her. She scooted just enough to make room, but remained silent. When he drew her into his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her flaming red hair, she finally made a noise. A sort of huffed annoyance similar to her father’s sighs of disdain.

“I’m trying to read,” she said, but it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to keep reading. Vitus had taken his hat off again and was wringing it in his hands, looking down at the floor as if he’d been caught doing something wrong. “Mummy,” said the six year old, pulling away just enough to turn and look up at Harry.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine sweetheart,” he said, then cut his green eyes to the house elf for a second. “Are you alright?”

“I was until you attacked me with a hug,” she said, giving a hint of a smile. Then, it faded. “I think father is mad at me.”

“Why would he be mad?” Harry asked, already thinking about the house elf’s worried sick look. He would not dismiss the elf just yet.

She looked back down at the book in her lap. She shrugged and let out another sigh, this time Harry knew it was one of confusion and sadness. “I don’t know,” she said. “But he looked so upset, and I… I haven’t seen him all day. Not since he came to fetch me for my lessons.”

“So you didn’t have any lessons today?”

She shook her head. Harry frowned. That was highly unusual. No matter what was going on, and no matter the moods both men would get into, nor their busy schedule, Draco was always very adamant that nothing disturb their children’s early education. And with that Harry had immediately agreed. But for the first time since they had moved into the Manor, something was amiss with the very strict regimen. And Draco, despite his protests otherwise, actually **enjoyed** instructing his children.

Harry pulled her into another tight hug to reassure her. “It’s alright love,” he said. “I’m sure he’s not mad at you.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” he replied. “Your father loves you and adores you. Nothing you could do would ever upset him.”

“Even set the kitchens on fire? Because he was really angry with Severus when that happened.”

“Even then,” he assured her. “Now then. I want you to clean up and get ready for dinner alright. I’m going to go see what all this fuss is about with your father.”

She nodded and was let go. She closed her book and slid off the window seat. Harry stood looking at the house elf. “Draco?” he asked seriously.

“Master Draco is in the masters’ suite,” Vitus replied. “But Master Harry must not disturb him. Master Draco says not to let anyone sees him.”

“Like hell I’ll listen to that,” he said under his breath moments before grasping the elf by the arm. "Take me to him." The pair were gone no sooner had he spoken. Only for the elf to return as quickly as he had disappeared. Alone.

The house elf wrung his hat with a look of worry on his face before looking to the little girl. “Will little Miss be needing Vitus for anything?”

She shook her head again and started to put away her books and toys. “No. But you can stay if you want,” she said. Usually the elf took it as a dismissal. But this time he just stood and watched her curiously.

Meanwhile, in the Master Suite, Harry had appeared in his and Draco’s bedroom, the elf immediately leaving his side once it was released. Looking around quickly, he saw that nothing was amiss.

“I know that’s you!” Draco shouted angrily, and Harry could hear heavy footfalls as he must have been storming across their private sitting room. “I told you to stop pestering!-” The blond cut off when he saw Harry standing at the foot of their bed, arms crossed over his chest and giving him the same look he gave their children when he didn’t know what was going on but was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Draco’s angry sneer vanished instantly as the mask fell away, revealing the real man beneath it. Pale eyes were red, but with tears or strain Harry did not know. Nor did he have time to think about before he was pulled forcefully against the taller man.

He shifted his arms between them, working them back out to wrap around him. “Draco?” The name was more than just a question. More than just a statement. It was an entire conversation in just two syllables. He followed it with another few words. “When I arrived, Vitus told me-“

Draco snarled, pulling away just as quickly as he had embraced him. He turned and stormed to the fireplace across the room, leaning heavily on the mantle. “That nosy, good for nothing creature!” he hissed angrily.

Harry took a few steps, but stopped, unsure if this was his husband’s frustration or one of his black moods. To assume he knew which it could be was a dangerous thing. And Harry did not want to risk it. Not right now. “Lily thinks she’s upset you. She’s been sitting in her rooms all day worried that you’re mad at her. When I left this morning everything was fine. What’s happened?”

Draco was silent. Glaring at a very small astrolabe as if it had done him a personal injustice.

“I WILL legilimens you if I have to,” Harry warned. Normally he would not have threatened to read his husband’s mind. But this affected not just him, but their daughter as well. And more than once Harry had been morally blind on occasion when it came to his children. “Draco…”

“She… did upset me,” he said at last, already feeling the probing of his husband’s magic at the edges of his thoughts. “But not… I’m not angry with her. She caught me by surprise and I did not handle it well.”

Harry nodded. Ah… Borderline black mood then. He managed to arrive just in time, he hoped. Harry went to him then, coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around. “Tell me what happened, love.”

Draco thought hard for a moment. He’d been struggling all day to come to terms with what he had caught their daughter doing. It wasn’t anything… well, he’d only heard of such a thing. Had read about it in books. But never actually seen someone doing it. And it caught him unawares. The skill his daughter displayed, he could accept. Could not completely understand yet, but accept nonetheless. Because his children were amazing, and did amazing things regularly.

But…

“Please. Tell me why you’re upset.”

“You’ve never spoken to the children of _Lucia_?”

Harry was silent. His brows came together, and he pressed his cheek against the back of Draco’s shoulder as he thought. “No. Never,” he replied. He’d never let the name slip. And only the Countess knew about the child. And Charlie and Nick had been told as well… It was a very painful memory for the both of them. One of the most painful since the war.

“Our daughter was speaking to Lucia.” There was no better way to say it, he knew, that would make Harry understand what he had seen. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath and turned in his husband’s arms. Much like their daughter had. “She was speaking to her as if she were… Harry, I-“

“Draco, it’s impossible,” he said, choosing his words carefully. He breathed in through his nose, and out again to calm himself, and hopefully to calm his husband. “Perhaps she heard the name elsewhere. It is a very pretty name, and she may have chosen it for her imaginary friend.”

Draco shook his head, red eyes almost pleading with the shorter man to believe him. “I know what I saw, and I know what I heard Harry. She’s talking to Lucia. She’s talking to the girl I,” and he almost couldn’t bring himself to say it, even after so many years. But it needed to be said. So that Harry would understand. “The child I lost us.”

Green eyes searched grey, still trying to reassure him. To keep him from tipping over into a black mood. And it was getting harder and harder to do. “Let’s assume I believe you-“

Draco looked away, and Harry snatched his chin and forced him to look back at him and continued. “Let’s assume she’s been playing with Lucia and not an imaginary friend. We would see her, too, right? That would make her a ghost. We can see ghosts.” He was trying to appeal to his husband’s reason. To his firm sense of logic. “Why then, can we not see this ghost?”

“Because it’s not a ghost,” Draco said, already having known the answer. Knowing exactly what was going on. But he hadn’t lied when he said he was caught by surprise. Caught unawares when he’d seen his daughter talking and laughing and interacting with thin air. Discussing things that no one, no one but he and Harry could ever and would ever know. Then, as if angry at having been doubted in the first place, Draco pulled away to arm’s length. “I’ll prove it. I’ll prove to you she’s speaking with her sister and not some silly little hallucination-“

“Imaginary friend,” Harry corrected.

Draco dragged him from the bedroom and called for a house elf by the name of Gaffy. When the tiny elf appeared, clad similarly to Vitus but missing the hat that marked the older elf as the head of the household staff. she squeaked. “Yes Master Draco?”

“Fetch my daughter.”

The house elf squeaked, and disappeared with a pop. Seconds later, the elf popped back in, holding the young girl’s hand.

“That will be all, Gaffy,” Harry said kindly. Relieved at the dismissal, the elf quickly left them. Harry pulled his hand from his husband’s grasp and moved to sit down on a sofa, patting beside him. Lily gave her father a worried look before sitting beside her mummy. “Lily,” Harry began. “Your father is not angry. But he is upset.”

Wide green eyes started to tear up, but Harry smiled and held her closer. “There will be none of that. He is worried about you, sweetheart. He’s not seen you talking to your imaginary friend before, and it frightened him.”

Draco slipped into the chair across from them, watching and fighting to maintain his expressionless face.

“Why don’t we start right at the beginning. You can tell me all about your little friend.”

Lily nodded, staring down at her hands. “Lucia didn’t mean to scare you,” she said quietly to her father. “We were just playing. And she was telling me about Italy,” she said. “She really likes the boats, and the people that sing while taking them down the channels during the night.”

Harry glanced over to his husband as their daughter said, “And she really liked it when father used to sing. She’s sorry he doesn’t sing anymore.”

Quickly green eyes turned back to his daughter in disbelief.

The three of them sat together, and Lily kept talking. Telling them both about how pretty her friend was, and how nice and sweet she was. And little stories that her friend had told her about all sorts of things. By the time she’d finished, her cheeks were burning and she couldn’t meet her parents’ eyes. Harry looked to Draco again, but the man was sitting with his face turned away. Unable to look at him.

“Mummy,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart,” Harry said.

“Lucia says she’s sorry, too,” she added, even quieter than before.

**o0o**

Dinner had been subdued. Harry had spent the late evening with their daughter, playing little games and then reading her one of her favorite bed time stories. He didn’t read to her before bed often, now that she declared herself old enough to do it herself. But when she was upset, she always got this look that told Harry she needed him.

And now he returned to their suite to find Draco hunched over a small writing desk in their sitting room. Ink and quill out, writing page after page in perfect, neat little handwriting.

“Alright?”

“Need to send this tonight.”

“It’s about Lily?”

“Yes. I need information. We need to learn as much as we possibly can about her… skill. And then we need to know what to do in order to keep her safe.”  
Harry waited a few moments. “It can wait for morning. Come to bed.”

“Harry,” he said, setting down his quill and turning in his chair. His face was hard and cold, and to see it caused Harry to wince. “Our daughter does not have imaginary friends. She talks to the dead. Her best friend is…” he paused, then drew a deep breath. “If it gets out what she can do, she will be in danger. Not only from the living. Imagine what could happen if a dead Death Eater were to get hold of her? Or even Voldemort himself. No. We have to take steps to protect Lily. And while you stand around saying it’s okay, and it’s harmless childish fun, I’m going to find a… a potion, or a spell, or something to block this.”

Harry hurried to his husband and took him by the arm. Pulling him from the chair, he forced him to look at him again. “I trust you,” he said. “And I know you’re concerned for our daughter. But trying to block her gift, or whatever it is, won’t do her any kindness. What if later on, it stops? What if she finds out and hates us for it?”

Draco shook his head. “You were raised by muggles. You don’t understand how serious this is. How important it is we hide this. She could be taken from us.”

“Then explain it to me,” he said. “Start right from the beginning and tell me what’s so wrong about what our little girl can do. Because I can’t help her, or you, if I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“You know Parseltongue is considered dark.”

Harry nodded.

“This is worse. This is so much worse. Necromancy is possibly one of the darkest, most dangerous things in all of the wizard world. Just being able to do what she does, the Ministry could come storming in and take her. They won’t care that she’s just a child. They won’t care that Saint Potter is her mother. They won’t care because if they can’t turn her into something they can use, they’ll…” Draco wanted to crumble right there. He wanted to fall apart and pretend he’d never found out what his daughter could do. Harry held him tightly, rubbing his back with one hand while his other arm kept him firmly in place. Draco rested his head upon his husband’s shoulder, silent for the longest time.

When he felt it was safe to do so, the blond finally lifted his head and steeled himself. “I’ve already lost one daughter,” he said. “I’m not going to lose another.”

“We’ll sort this out,” Harry said in his best reassuring tone. “But you’re a wreck. Tomorrow morning, we’ll get to work. I’ll search the library and write to Hermione. We’ll start sifting through the Black library, and I’m sure the Countess would have no problem helping us.”

He nodded, grateful that Harry was no longer insistent that Lily only had an imaginary friend.

**Author's Note:**

>  **“Lucia”** = light; Italian name  
>  Lucia would have been the second child of Draco and Harry, through the use of the pregnancy potion. She would have been born from Draco. However, the pregnancy was extremely difficult and, at 7 months his body finally rejected the baby and he lost the child, a little girl. Harry and Draco would have named her _Lucia Minerva Potter-Malfoy_.
> 
> Worldbuilding Notes:  
> Draco, having been raised only in the wizarding world (and also by dark wizards) knows of necromancy, but is also fearful of it. Rightfully so, as it is very powerful and very dangerous. Spirits can attempt to posses the necromancer, and if they do not have the training required to control their gift and to protect themselves, it could prove to be disastrous. His first instinct, and it’s the same for most wizards, is to get as far away from a necromancer as possible. To turn them in. However, because it is his own daughter, he is even more fearful and would do anything to protect her. This is why he is upset, on top of the fact that her “imaginary friend” turns out to be the spirit of her deceased unborn older sister. So… Yeah. He’s freaked. Plus, Harry doesn’t understand because he was raised by muggles, so he just doesn’t get how big a deal this is.


End file.
